Zoo News Digest is the longest established and most widely read listing of current 'zoo' related news on the internet. It notes 'real' events of interest to people working within the zoo industry. By a Zoo Professional for Zoo Professionals and other interested parties. The Digest includes comments and notification of courses and events.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Zoo News Digest 2nd - 4th June 2013 (ZooNews 854)

Very disappointed to see that the Tiger Kingdom is opening a branch in Phuket. In spite of all the hype and dressing this will be yet another branch of a highly exploitative purely commercial operation that does nothing at all for conservation. Like the Chiang Mai operation it will make buckets of money.

The story 'Killer tiger on the loose, prowling forest in India after zoo escape' is a prime example of why you should not believe the press. This tiger has killed nobody. In fact it is a mix of stories. What was the journalist drinking?

Putting Lynx into Scotland? I'm unsure about that one. Interesting idea. I cannot see why the author had to take the opportunity to dig at Edinburgh Zoo which has no relevance to the story.

VERY IMPORTANT (I will repeat this several times over coming weeks as I know some people do not read every issue)- After several years my postal address has changed. It is now:

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Conservation charity vets head to Thailand following the largest ever seizure of ploughshare tortoises – the most threatened tortoise in the world.

This week Tsanta Fiderana, Malagasy veterinary officer for Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust will travel to Bangkok on behalf of the Madagascar CITES management bodyas part of a joint mission with Dr. Paul Gibbons and Maurice Rodrigues of the Turtle Conservancy to assess the health of ploughshare tortoises recently trafficked out of Madagascar in a suitcase. In addition to tending to the health of the confiscated tortoises, the team will also be creating new enclosures that can be used for future confiscations of turtles and tortoises.

The ploughshare is the most threatened tortoise in the world and is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is on Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), forbidding any trade in the species. However the tortoise is highly prized as a pet, especially in South East Asia, and illegal trade is now the biggest threat to the species’ survival.

Fifty-four ploughshare tortoises and 21 radiated tortoises were found by Thai police in a suitcase at Bangkok International Airport on 15th March 2013. This is the largest ever seizure of ploughshare tortoises made up of 53 juveniles and one sub-adult tortoise. A Thai man and a Malagasy woman were arrested.

Since their seizure in Bangkok, they have been kept at a rescue centre, where it is difficult to provide the specific conditions they need. The tortoises are reported to be in poor health and there have been a number of deaths most likely due to the inadequate care they received from smugglers during the long journey from their home in north-western Madagascar.

Fiderana is hugely experienced in caring for sick ploughshare tortoises. As well as being responsible for ensuring the health of the tortoises in the captive breeding and reintroduction programme Durrell runs for the Malagasy government, she also cares for confiscated animals placed in quarantine with Durrell.

Dr. Paul Gibbons and Maurice Rodrigues both have extensive experience with tortoise husbandry and veterinary care. In addition to partnering with Durrell on their work with ploughshare tortoises in Madagascar, the Turtle Conservancy also maintains an assurance colony of ploughshares at their captive breeding centre in the US.

Fiderana explained: “After smuggling attempts the tortoises are often very sick and in a state of shock, so they need special care. We don’t know what sort of conditions and treatment they experienced during their journeys, and they may have been exposed to diseases and parasites. My first priority when I get to Thailand is to work with the Thai veterinary team and our partners the Turtle Conservancy to evaluate the health of the tortoises through a thorough examination, and then to give them the care they need to re-establish their health.”

Richard Lewis, Programme director for Durrell in Madagascar said: “the ploughshare tortoise is perilously close to extinction. We think there are fewer than 400 adults left in their natural habitat. Even though the seized animals were mainly babies, losing 54 individuals from the wild represents a huge blow to the population, which is why we are doing everything we can to ensure their health and bring them back to Madagascar.”

Sahondra Rabesihanaka, of the Madagascar Forestry Department, said: “By adhering to CITES, the Government of Madagascar through the management committee, is aware that the loss of any species disrupts the whole country's biodiversity. We are making every effort to avoid this. The support of all stakeholders is necessary for us, including agencies at the national level as well as other members of CITES. It is in this spirit that Madagascar is currently developing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Thailand for the repatriation of Malagasy tortoises seized there.”

Durrell has led conservation efforts for the ploughshare tortoise in Madagascar for the past 25 years. The programme now encompasses a broad range of responses including a dedicated captive breeding and release programme, community-based patrols, local small-scale development projects with villages around the tortoise habitats, and extensive field research to better understand and monitor the remaining wild animals.

Durrell is also part of a strong international partnership of NGOs working to fight the illegal trade in ploughshares and Madagascar’s other threatened tortoise species.

Halting the illegal trade in species such as the ploughshare tortoise is now one of the world’s most pressing species conservation challenges. Coordinated action is needed to tackle both supply – reducing incentives to poach animals and increasing law enforcement efforts; and to break smuggling networks in countries such as Thailand, where so many animals end up in illegal markets.

TigerKingdom
Tourist Attraction Set to Roar on Phuket

A branch of the popular TigerKingdom tourist attraction is
preparing to open on Phuket, possibly as soon as June 19, Phuketwan has
learned.

In Chiang Mai, tourists pet and pat tigers at the Tiger
Kindom that opened 10 kilometres from the city in 2008.

On Phuket a large ''TIGERKINGDOM'' sign is now visible from Phrabaramee
Road, in Kathu, behind the go kart track. There's
a substantial building beneath it.

The opening of a TigerKingdom branch on Phuket would
provide Phuket with one more reason for tourists to come to Phuket and one less
reason for them to travel to other parts of Thailand.

It's believed the TigerKingdom in Chiang Mai has been very
successful. Patrons are offered the choice of admission to enclosures with
newborn, small tigers, medium tigers and big cats. Prices are higher for the
younger animals.

Although there are constant concerns from environmentalists
about the welfare of tigers in captivity in Thailand,
the TigerKingdom
says none of their tigers are drugged or tranquilised, and that chains and
restraints are not used.

It's believed the Trakarn Zoo in Ubon Ratchathani province
has supplied the tigers for the Chiang Mai venture and the zoo currently holds
about 70 tigers.

The Phuket branch - at a cost of about 100 million baht -
would most likely open similar hours, from 9am
to 6pm, on the 10 rai site behind the
go kart track.

Photos of tourists with tigers are popular and there's also
a restaurant at the TigerKingdom
i

The relentless exploitation of Asian Giant Lizards
A new study reveals that the illegal harvesting and trading of Southeast Asian monitor lizards – valued for their skins and as pets – continues.

A team of German and Indonesian scientists recently published the first comprehensive study on the conservation and threatened status of all Southeast Asian species of monitor lizards. The authors conclude that several of these fascinating giant lizard species are obviously being exploited at unsustainable levels, even though national and international regulations and laws are in place. This critical study was published in the well-known online journal “Herpetological Conservation and Biology”.

Besides the demand for the pet trade (where particular species are targeted), the commercial trade in skins must be understood as a major threat for some species and populations. Next to crocodilians and giant snakes, monitor lizards are the species group of lizards that are exploited most frequently within the skin trade. Annually, Indonesia documents the legal export of 450,000 skins of the water monitor lizard (Varanus salvator) for the manufacture of e.g. handbags and watch straps, the latter of these then being marketed in Germany as “lizard straps”. Dr. Andre Koch of the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig in Bonn has strong reservations and states: “Especially, the poorly monitored trade in island species and populations must be feared detrimentally, if current trade levels continue; here over-exploitation and extinction are closely linked.” Since many years, and alike his co-authors, Dr. Koch is engaged in research on the monitor lizards of Southeast Asia specifically regarding their underestimahttp://earthsky.org/science-wire/the-relentless-exploitation-of-asian-giant-lizards-revealed

The Economics Of The Illegal Wildlife Trade

The illegal trade of animals or animal parts has become one
of the most lucrative black market activities in the world. Driven by the
promise of high profit margins, poachers in Africa –
namely militias, armed groups, and insurgent groups – have driven rhinos and
elephants close to extinction, while murdering hundreds of park rangers in the
process. NGOs and governments now face a race against time to reduce demand for
wildlife trade, particularly in Asia, as well as to
equip those on the front-line to fight a well-armed enemy.

Even going by the lowest estimates, wildlife crime is
currently the 5th largest illicit transnational activity in the world, after
counterfeiting and the illegal trafficking of drugs, people, and oil. The
illicit sale of animals or animal parts is such big business that it attracts
large criminal syndicates, as well as militia armed to the teeth. Traffic, the
wildlife trade monitoring network, estimates that illegal wildlife trade is
worth US$8-10 billion per year, although a 2008 report for the US Congress says
it could be closer to US$20 billion.

In Africa, the situation is so dire
that animals such as elephants and rhinos are being driven to the brink of
extinction. Besides stealing the animals’ horns and tusks, poachers have killed
hundreds of rangers who tried to get in their way. A substantial portion of the
illegal goods are then shipped to Asia, where demand is driven by the need for
specific animal parts to practice traditional Asian medicine, for human
consumption, and as symbols of wealth.

According to Dr Richard Thomas, the Global Communications
Coordinator for Traffic, the demand for rhino horn, for instance, was mainly
coming from Vietnam.

“Demand kicked off in the mid-2000s when rumors spread about
its medicinal properties. It’s become the recreational drug for the nouveau
riche to flaunt their wealth. It’s supposed to cure hangovers, enhance virility
and even cure cancer. There’s no medical evidence whatsoever for any of that.
Rhino horn is made of keratin, the same stuff as human fingernails,” he said.

Dr. Thomas says that the Vietnam
black market is largely responsible for the rapid increase in poaching rhinos
in Africa, particularly in South
Africa, where 75 percent of them live. The
figures for poached animals in South Africa
climbed from 13 in 2007 to 668 last year. This year, the figure is likely to be
even higher, around 800.

Oregon Zoo:
Asian elephant has tuberculosis; staff says public not at risk

For the first time, an elephant at the Oregon Zoo has
developed tuberculosis.

Rama, a 30-year-old Asian elephant who was born at the zoo,
shows no symptoms but as soon as the test result came in Friday, staff put him
in quarantine.

He's posed no threat to visitors, they said, but the zoo has
suspended behind-the-scene tours of the elephant area.

Zoo staff expect the middle-age pachyderm to make a full
recovery.

"We're confident Rama is going to be fine," said
Kim Smith, zoo director. "It's a very treatable disease. We've caught it
early with Rama. We feel very good about this."

But treatment with drugs is expensive, costing more than
$50,000, and involves intensive monitoring. Some elephants that have not
tolerated the regime have had to be euthanized.

Born in 1983 to Rosy and Packy, Rama is the smallest of the
adult bull elephants at the zoo, weighing 9,000 pounds. He's curious and
inquisitive and connects easily to people. Unlike Packy, who's sired seven
calves, Rama has none. But he

Canned hunting is a fast-growing business in South
Africa, where thousands of lions are being
bred on farms to be shot by wealthy foreign trophy-hunters

They are adorably cute, with grubby brown fur so soft it
seems to slip through my fingers like flour. It is only when one of the
nine-week-old cubs playfully grabs my arm with its teeth and squeezes with an
agonising grip that I remember – this is a lion, a wild animal. These four cubs
are not wild, however. They are kept in a small pen behind the Lion's Den, a
pub on a ranch in desolate countryside 75 miles south of Johannesburg.
Tourists stop to pet them but most visitors do not venture over the hill, where
the ranch has pens holding nearly 50 juvenile and fully-grown lions, and two
tigers.

Moreson ranch is one of more than 160 such farms legally
breeding big cats in South Africa.
There are now more lions held in captivity (upwards of 5,000) in the country
than live wild (about 2,000). While the owners of this ranch insist they do not
hunt and kill their lions, animal welfare groups say most breeders sell their
stock to be shot dead by wealthy trophy-hunters from Europe
and North America, or for traditional medicine in Asia.
The easy slaughter of animals in fenced areas is called "canned
hunting", perhaps because it's rather like shooting fish in a barrel. A
fully-grown, captive-bred lion is taken from its pen to an enclosed area where
it wanders listlessly for some hours before being shot dead by a man with a
shotgun, hand-gun or even a crossbow, standing safely on the back of a truck.
forHe pays anything from £5,000 to £25,000, and it is all completely legal.

Like other tourists and daytrippers from Jo'burg, I pay a
more modest £3.50 to hug the lions at Moreson, a game ranch which on its
website invites tourists to come and enjoy the canned hunting of everything
from pretty blesbok and springbok – South Africa's
national symbol – to lions and crocodiles. After a cuddle with the cubs, I go
on a "game drive" through the 2,000 hectare estate. Herds of blue
wildebeest, red hartebeest and eland run from the truck, then stop and watch
us, warily: according to the guides, the animals seem to know when visitors are
not carrying guns. At the far end of the property is an abandoned farm,
surrounded by pens of lethargic-looking big cats. One pair mate in front of us.
Two healthy looking tigers tear at chicken carcasses rapidly rotting in the
African sun.

The animals look well cared for. But Cathleen Benade, a
ranch assistant who is studying wildlife photography and is devoted to the
cubs, reveals that they were taken away from their mothers just an hour after
birth and bottle-fed by humans for the first eight weeks of their life. After
dark, as the lions roar in the cages below the pub veranda, Maryke Van Der
Merwe, the manager of Lion's Den and daughter of the ranch owner, explains that
if the cubs weren't separated from their mother – by blowing a horn to scare
the adult lion away – the young lions would starve to death, because their
mother had no milk. She says the mother is not distressed: "She's looking
for the cubs for a few hours but it's not like she's sad. After a day or two I
don't think she remembered that she had cubs."

Animal welfare experts disagree, however. They say breeders
remove the cubs from their mother so that the lioness will quickly become
fertile again, as they squeeze as many cubs from their adults as possible –
five litters every two years. For an animal that is usually weaned at six
months, missing out on the crucial colostrum, or first milk, can cause
ill-health. "These breeders tell you they removed the cubs because the
mother had no milk; I've never seen that in the wild," says Pieter Kat, an
evolutionary biologist who has worked with wild lions in Kenya
and Botswana.
"Lions and tigers in captivity may kill their young because they are under
a lot of stress. But the main reason breeders separate the young from their
mother is because they don't want them to be dependant on their moth

90% of the animals at the 17-hectare privately owned Al
Bustan Zoological Centre are endangered

Imagine mingling with jaguars, extremely rare King cheetahs,
bongos, and some of the world’s endangered and critically endangered species
right in your backyard.

You may think you’re somewhere in Africa,
but this piece of paradise can be found right in Sharjah emirate.

Al Bustan Zoological Centre is a 17-hectare privately owned
zoo located on the road to Kalba that houses 856 animals of 101 species from
around the world. About 90 per cent of the animal collection is endangered or
critically endangered.

Who you calling ugly? Zoos prefer cute animals to less
attractive species, research shows

Zoos are no place for ugly ducklings. Big, intelligent,
good-looking animals are more likely to be found in zoos, irrespective of
conservation needs, according to new research. While the red panda, big cats,
elephants and giraffes are found in most zoos, there's no place for the pika,
the golden mole or the rat kangaroo.

Researchers warn that the focus on attractive species that
appeal to paying visitors could have detrimental effects on conservation, with
the mammal rated the least attractive, the endangered marsupial mole, not found
in any zoo.

"Selection of species into world zoos is determined by
decisions made by humans, and intelligent and beautiful animals seem to be
favoured," the researchers say.

More than seven million animals are kept in 872 zoos and
aquariums worldwide. Zoologists from Prague's
CharlesUniversity
investigated the range of mammals kept and which were left out. Out of 5,334
mammalian species, only 1,048 of them, or 16 per cent, were found in the world
zoo collection. The team used data on brain size and attractiveness to humans
to see why some species were being left ou

Rather than spending millions on pandas, we need to save the
wild animals that are integral to the Highlands'
character

As Edinburgh Zoo's panda freakshow continues to captivate
the witless and the infantile, a real Scottish animal has been allowed to die.
Under the noses of Scottish Natural Heritage, which likes to be known as the
nation's leading conservation body, the Scottish wildcat has all but been
extinguished from the Highlands. The importance of this
news may be deemed worthy of a mere footnote on the schedule of important
issues with which Scotland
is grappling but it ought to rank much higher. For the wildcat's demise seems
to be part of the neutering and emasculating of our wildest places. That which
was previously held to be a quintessential part of what Scotland
was originally meant to look like and smell like and sound like is now, it
seems, unimportant.

Thus we allow golden eagles and our other great predators
routinely to be executed by gamekeepers and farmers all over the Highlands.
These wildlife crimes carry stiff penalties but no prosecutions are ever
brought. After all, there are vast country estates to protect, mainly to ensure
that Scotland
remains the favourite country theme park of Europe's
aristocracy. And a decade after their filthy feeding methods gave the country
foot and mouth disease

The death of two young beluga whales was confirmed by the
Marine Lands.

The spokesman of the park, John Beattie, said that the young
animals died at some time in the aquarium and in wild which was a sad scenario.
The spokesman e-mailed the respond to the deaths' queries by the Review.

The Review asked about the death dates of the whales to
which the spokesman said that beluga Charlotte
dies in year 2012, however, Luna died on some date in the present year. He
didn't provide with any specific dates of death in his email responses.

The enquiry into the deaths of the whales was initiated by
local animal activists and the aquatic inventory website Ceta-Base. com that
keeps the records of currently existing beluga whales on the site at the MarineLand.

One of the activists, Alex Louise Dorer from the group of OccupyMarineLand
said that in-accordance to the available space, MarineLand has too many belugas li

Pioneering efforts by Qatar’s
Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation to conserve the extinct-in-the-wild Spix’s macaw
have achieved a key milestone with the world’s first artificial insemination in
the parrot species native to Brazil,
under a partnership with a German firm.

Founded by Sheikh Saoud bin Mohamed bin Ali al-Thani, AWWP,
which has been a champion in Spix’s macaw conservation for over a decade, holds
over 77% (64 out of 83) of the world population of the bird and is actively
involved in grassroots conservation in its home country.

Given that a narrow genetic pool is one of the biggest
problems for the worldwide breeding programme, as it causes suboptimal
fertility in the population, researchers from AWWP together with Parrot
Reproduction Consulting from Germany
decided to help the species through artificial insemination.

As soon as a female laid her first egg, the team took sperm
from a male and immediately deposited it by micro-capillary tube into the
oviduct of the female Spix hoping to fertilise the next egg to be laid before
the egg shell would be formed.

“This process was repeated after the second and third eggs
were laid as Spix are known to often lay four eggs in a clutch,” Dr Tim Bouts,
director of AWWP told Gulf Times.

After seven days the eggs were candled to see if they were
fertile. Two - out of the seven artificially inseminated - proved to be fertile
and developed well in the incubator.

The eggs were checked daily for development and as the
chicks were growing their heart rates monitored in the egg until they hatched
after 26 days.

The first chick to hatch was called ‘Neumann,’ named after
veterinarian Daniel Neumann, from Parrot Reproduction Consulting, the executor
of the first successful artificial insemination in Spix.

“I have performed many artificial inseminations in parrots
over the years but none have been as special as the ones in the Spix,” he said
while recalling that as a boy, following the sad story of the disappearance of
the Spix’s macaw in the wild, he dreamt about becoming involved in its
conservation.

This success story is hopefully the beginning of the
recovery of the species in the wild as successful breeding in captivity with a
wide genetic pool will be the most important tool for its survival.

The blue macaw co-ordinator in AWWP, Dr Cromwell Purchase,
said: “Since we know that artificial insemination is possible in this species,
we have a lot more possibilities for breed

Kari Morfeld’s desk is littered with hundreds of 8-by-10
glossy photographs — each a close-up of an elephant’s derriere.

Her vast collection includes butts from South
Africa and from the 290 elephants living in
74 zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Morfeld is a wildlife endocrinologist and head of the new WildlifeConservationResearchCenter at the Lincoln Children’s
Zoo — the world’s first facility to focus on the metabolic health of zoo
animals.

Her research on pachyderm posteriors — and blood — holds
far-reaching implications for the future of elephants.

Perhaps all other animal species.

The work is a collaboration of the Smithsonian Conservation
Biology Institute, NebraskaWesleyanUniversity, the Lincoln Children’s
Zoo and her doctoral dissertation at GeorgeMasonUniversity.

In a nutshell, Morfeld’s research finds that elephants in
American zoos are facing the same health crisis as American Homo sapiens --
cardiac disease, arthritis and infertility -- all brought on by the

Remember last year when a penguin somehow scaled a fence at
a Japanese zoo and went missing? Well, the same thing is happening now at India's
NadankananZoologicalPark, except that instead of a
fugitive penguin, it’s a fugitive tiger. The same tiger, curiously enough, had
wandered into the zoo this spring, causing a debate over whether it should be
returned to the wild or kept. The tiger stayed six weeks at Nadankanan, during
which it "ate heartily," but then apparently lost interest in zoo
life and scaled an 18-foot wall before fleeing to a nearby forest. Tragically,
the tiger's stay came at a cost of human life; during the tiger's escape, it
crossed paths with a

Woman to face judge in theft of $800k from Monterey Aquarium
Institute

A federal grand jury in San Jose
has indicted a former payroll employee of an aquatics research facility at Moss
Landing, Calif. in the
embezzlement of about $800,000 from 2005 to 2012, according to the U.S.
Attorney's office.

Lisa McMahon, of Mountain View,
is set to appear in federal court in San Jose
on Thursday to face charges of wire fraud and theft from the Monterey Bay
Aquarium Research Institute following her indictment Wednesday, the office
reported.

U.S. Judge Paul S. Grewal will preside at the 10:30 a.m.
hearing, at the United States District Court, Northern District of
California, 280 S. First
St. in San Jose.

The indictment alleged that McMahon defrauded the institute
of the $800,000 over seven years by altering payroll and 401(k) investment
records to conceal the transfer of funds to her personal accounts, federal
officials said.

Donghu Sea World in Wuhan,
the capital of HubeiProvince,
sees a group of young girls act as "mermaids," presenting fancy shows
for the delight of the audience.

The mermaid show is the most popular of the various
offerings Donghu puts on, and attracts lots of tourists, especially during
weekends and holidays. As the rainbow-clad mermaids perform acrobatics,
children gather at the glass to get closer as they scream with delight.

Taping the show is a must for many tourists, and a wall of
screens capturing the event can be seen in the stands.

Li Qingqing, 19, is one of the mermaids. Originally working
as a tour guide, she became fascinated and signed up last March.

This proved a daunting effort for Li as she couldn't even
swim in the beginning. She had to learn various strokes, dives and acrobatics
while meters under the surface, as well as how to deal with marine animals.

"The naughtiest creatures are the turtles. They love
us, and they try to hug us as they are performing. They're not very gentle and
our bodies get covered in bruises from their affections," said Li,
pointing to several on her body.

The situation is the same for other mermaids. Li's
colleague, 30-year-old Wang Liqin, has many scars on he

The StateForest
and Environment department is in a fix like never before. It has no clue as per
what to do with the wild tiger that just slipped out of NandankananZoologicalPark.

Should it try and capture it and release back into the wild?
Or should it just sit tight and do nothing? For the tiger is in the forest area
of Nandankanan which is a notified sanctuary in itself.

A day after the five-year-old Royal Bengal Tiger scaled the
18 feet wall of an enclosure to seek freedom, the Wildlife Wing was wondering
its next course of action. Forest and Environment
Minister Bijoyshree Routray visited the zoo in the morning and inspected the
enclosure in question. He could only marvel at the tiger’s climbing ability
which zoo officials said was one-of-its kind incident in the history of Indian
zoos, at least.

For the department, the problem was much more complicated.
While Chief Wildlife Warden J D Sharma sat over the matter by seeking feedbacks
from National Tiger Conservation Authority, the tiger escape has posed a queer
problem. Now that the large cat is out of the zoo premises, the the tiger is
neither under its jurisdiction nor its responsibility anymore.

“Since it is in the forests of the sanctuary, the Wildlife
Wing has to take call on whether to leave it there assuming that the feline
will find its way or to capture it and make a fres

THE owner of a wildlife park where a Scots zookeeper was
killed by a tiger had amassed fines totalling almost £20,000 following a series
of issues relating to escaping animals.

A council licensing committee had ordered a review of the
design of the tiger enclosure seven years ago due to concerns animals could
escape at SouthLakesWildAnimalPark,
in Dalton-in-Furness in Cumbria.

Enclosure issues are currently being investigated after the
death of Sarah McClay, 24, who was originally from Glasgow,
after she was mauled by a tiger.

It has now emerged the park's owner, David Gill, was fined
by authorities over escaped animals at his MareebaWildAnimalPark
in Australia
before leaving the country as his business failed with debts of £2 million.

Police are working on the assumption human error or
mechanical failure allowed the Sumatran tiger to escape from its pen at SouthLakes.

There were said to be strict controls in place at the
enclosure building, which has four animal pens accessible from a staff area
where, among other things, cleaning equipment is stored.

Mr Gill has been criticised for claiming Ms McClay died
because she broke the park's protocols by walking into the tiger's cage.

But police later said Ms McClay was in the staff area when
the tiger first confronted her and it had not been established it was down to
her error.

The wildlife park has been at the centre of a number of
licence reviews following health and safety issues raised by inspectors.

Council papers show a review of enclosure design was
requested in 2006 after "safety concerns" over a condor and vulture
aviary and a new bat enclosure.

Escapes of ring-tailed lemur and coati had also raised a
number of complaints.

A chief environmental officer's report called for a review
of enclosure design to be undertaken "to ensure that animals contained
therein may reasonably be contained within the zoo and if an escape were to
take place, that the perimeter fence may adequately deter their future
escape".

Two years later, a written warning threatening "formal
action" was issued following the escape of lemurs.

Mr Gill left Australia
after his park in Cairns in Queensland
was accused of breaching permit conditions. He said at the time that he left
quickly "under deep fear for both my family and my safety and
freedom".

He was charged, convicted and fined more than £6000 for
three breaches of the Land Protection Act in his absence, two of those
involving the escape of a lemur and cheetah and the unreported death of a lemur
in October, 2004.

The Zoo Biology Group is concerned with all disciplines involved in the running of a Zoological Garden. Captive breeding, husbandry,cage design and construction, diets, enrichment, man management,record keeping, etc etc

About Me

I have worked in the zoo world for over 48 years in the capacity of keeper, head keeper and curator. For information related to a zoos, zoo careers and more please see:
http://hubpages.com/_BL29/hub/The-Zoo-Hubs
See also my profile at:
http://www.google.com/profiles/elvinhow